Publishing letters 'Private and Confidential'

nedchester

Is it legal for me to publish letters marked 'Private and Confidential'? After all they were sent to me and opened by me so they are now my property.

daytona0

It is probably NOT legal.


The trick here is to just forget about it and move on. UNLESS you are making a living from blogging, there is little incentive in doing what you are doing. Absolute waste of time and energy!

sangie595

nedchester wrote: »

I have been thinking of publishing some letters on a blog from my former employer. They are marked 'Private and Confidential'

Is it legal for me to publish these letters? After all they were sent to me and opened by me so they are now my property.

(The story is that I complained about increased workload in a letter to my line manager but the boss threatened misconduct - I'd like to publish both my letter and the reply)

Regardless of whether it can be done, it is a lousy idea. More and more employers are researching their employees and prospective employees online activities. If you do this yo a former employer, where do you think you would stand with existing or prospective employers? Because no employer wants someone who might do the same thing to them. So the only person getting damaged here would be you.

Guest101

Legal yes
Can they sue -yes
Will they win- probably
Damages - not sure

Tiddlywinks

What do you hope to achieve?

You need to look carefully at the content and make sure that it doesn't breach the DPA - no personal data should be included.

Also, internal processes are usually considered 'commercial in confidence' so this is likely to antagonise the company.

Sometimes the best revenge is just to move on and be successful.

bugslet

I don't care if it's legal or not, the words private and confidential should mean something.

You wouldn't like it if someone decided to release information about you that you considered a prive conversation/experience/correspondence.

What on earth is it with people wanting to leak things that shouldn't be.:mad:

Guest101

bugslet wrote: »

I don't care if it's legal or not, the words private and confidential should mean something.

You wouldn't like it if someone decided to release information about you that you considered a prive conversation/experience/correspondence.

What on earth is it with people wanting to leak things that shouldn't be.:mad:

Don't put it in writing then.

GothicStirling

Do you want to get sued? Do you want anyone to employ you again? Do you want to lose your house to pay damages? Do you want to be bankrupted? Do you want to lose your good name, respect, and trustworthiness?

Guest101

GothicStirling wrote: »

Do you want to get sued? Do you want anyone to employ you again? Do you want to lose your house to pay damages? Do you want to be bankrupted? Do you want to lose your good name, respect, and trustworthiness?

That's just scaremongering.

Damages wouldn't be anywhere near that.

Manxman_in_exile

The sheets of paper the letters are written on belong to you, but not their content.


I don't think the "Private" bit has any significance, but if the letter has "Confidential" in the header, then you are accepting to be bound by that confidence by reading further. And I suppose if you copy the letters word for word it's also a breach of copyright.


(eg you could buy and physically own a book but you can't republish the content)

Guest101

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

The sheets of paper the letters are written on belong to you, but not their content.


I don't think the "Private" bit has any significance, but if the letter has "Confidential" in the header, then you are accepting to be bound by that confidence by reading further. And I suppose if you copy the letters word for word it's also a breach of copyright.


(eg you could buy and physically own a book but you can't republish the content)

With all that said (which is in essence correct) - there is little the company will actually achieve by pursuing the matter.